Contractor Charged for Hurricane Repair Rip-offs

Okaloosa County sheriff's investigators say they've arrested a man suspected of ripping off at least six different homeowners for repairs following Hurricane Ivan.

Thirty-six-year-old Rodney Russell Garvin from Andalusia, Alabama was jailed. Authorities arrested him this weekend after an off-duty Niceville police officer spotted him in an Okaloosa island restaurant.

Investigators say Garvin contracted to do roof repairs with at least six homeowners, collecting 50 percent of the money up front, an average of $2,800 a home, but the homeowners say Garvin never did the work.

He's being charged with six counts of contracting without a license, grand theft and fraud, plus three counts of exploitation of the elderly. Additional charges are possible.

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